/lit/ - Literature

Waste of money.
Just disconnect your internet.

>>1161002

cool advice bro. you might as well just tell us to cut off our hands.

>>1160975

Just do what Johnathan Franzen does, and ruin your computer!

>>1161014
Not permanently you dumb fuck.

>>1161024

Yes, permanently. Want to get shit done? Go all in or go home.

>>1161014
>>1161066
So is that a yay or a nay?

Any other opinions?

I collect and use typewriters (in b4 hipster). I got into them because I just couldn't do my work in college on a computer--the internet was too distracting. So I started writing on a typewriter just so I'd actually get something done. It turned out that I really like it. The writing process is very different for me when I can't just undo things. I find I have to think more before I put words down, which has improved me work. Same with editing. It takes forever to completely retype new drafts, but it forces me to think more. I realize that with more discipline I could maybe have the same level on concentration on a computer, but a typewriter just really helps me. I don't think it's for everyone, but given how inexpensively you can find a working machine, you might as well try it out.

I use my typewriter for writing stream of consciousness pieces. Once I found out that Kerouac wrote On the Road on a single roll of something like 75 foot paper without correcting or rewriting anything, I had to buy one. It works extremely well for things like that. I usually write on mine for practice too

>>1161286

Kerouac did write it out on a big roll of butcher paper, but he edited the shit out of it before it was published.

Yeah I know, they've even recently published the original draft. But when I write, I usually rewrite sections over and over again. Using a typewriter is a very different, very raw way of writing

Just use a computer and develop a bit of self discipline. You'll thank yourself when it comes to editing your work.

>>1161292

Yeah. He took the totally unchanged roll itself around to publishers, but they basically looked at this big mass of paper and went, "What? Get me a real manuscript."

So the common form of the book is edited down.

You can get pretty easily these days the 'Original Scroll' version, which is the original text, as close to how Keroauc wrote it as possible.

When I do serious writing on my computer I use a program called Darkroom: http://they.misled.us/dark-room

It's a minimalistic text editor that blacks out the entire screen, so when you're typing, there are no distractions. It's just you and the text.

>>1161432
I love you.
I have been craving a program like this for a while, but haven't been able to find one.
Thankyou.

http://www.larwe.com/museum/tandywp2.html

Get one of these. They run on batteries which last days at a time. With a serial port you can transfer everything you write. I have one and they rock.

Download momentum writer.
It's a word processor that acts just like a typewriter i.e. you can't go back and keep on changing your shit, since the backspace key doesn't work.
It's also full-screen, so if you want to go on the internet or something, you'll have to alt-tab out of it, or close the program

>>1161327
>>1161296
>>1161292
>>1161286


He didn't just sit down and write the thing on the roll like people suggest he did. He had a shitload of it in a first-draft stage already - and even that was more processed than what he wrote down in his journals. Really by the time it got to the roll it was between a second and third draft.

>>1161432
I use Q10, which does pretty much exactly the same thing. It even has typewriter sound effects.

>>1162080

You can't backspace or correct your work at all?

That strikes me as very counter-productive...

People who use typewriter nowadays, for anything other than sentimental reasons, tend to be talentless and magniloquent.

Just try and concentrate, it'll improve your writing.

>>1162111
>magniloquent
How long have you been waiting to use that one

>>1162110
When I write something, I have the tendency to -keep on- rewriting every single line, before deleting everything and starting over.
This program makes sure I just keep on writing and keep the editing for later.

Since "pretension" because a cliché.

>>1162119

Since "pretentious" became a cliché.

OP, I think you'd be better off figuring out how to have the discipline not to distract yourself. But, obviously, this place is the worst place to look for people to tell you about having focus.

It sounds stupid, but I actually have found myself more able to engage in writing since I got myself a good computer keyboard. It adds a tactile joy to the experience of writing that (for me) was missing with typical mushy keyboards...so it's something like a typewriter in that sense, but without all the ridiculous inconveniences. Doesn't solve the problem of internet addiction, but what am I, a fucking miracle worker?

Pic related: great mechanical keyboard you can get for $30.

The typewriter is preferable, op--My reasons for using one are:
1. I have one
2. I like the sound it makes (sensory creature that i am)
3. I dislike looking at a computer monitor or screen of any type
It is not pretentious and you can find one for rather cheap--the only draw back is finding ribbon but i think typewriter ribbon is cheaper than printer ink if i'm not mistaken and yeah just for the fact that you do not have to stare at a screen is a good enough reason to use one. haters will hate, but that is just to be expected.

>>1162200

>I like the sound it makes

>>1162202

>>1162200
I did actually find one for around $36.

>>1160975

Not a troll, I personally have a typewriter (see picture), and I have used it some times. However I am very careful about actually using it, because if it breaks then chances are that it can't be repaired, and two: The ink will be harder and harder to get with every day that passes so I want to save it.

I have the same problem: A computer I get distracted by almost anything. A typewriter, there is very few things to distract me.

Writing in hand is okay, but is very slow, and is rare that I get beyond anything other than a draft.